Under existing practice, once a well has been drilled in a hydrocarbon field and various well logs have been run, a petro physicist is employed for several days to examine the well logs and identify pay zones in the well. Pay zones often include ranges of depths in the well from which hydrocarbons, and not merely water, can be reclaimed.
The time required by the petro physicist to review the logs can be very expensive. In addition to the costs of the petro physicist himself, the organization hoping to exploit the well must also absorb rig down time and lost production from the well while waiting for the petro physicist's recommendations. These losses can be compounded when a plurality of existing wells are being reviewed.